Coincidence - Alan May [17]
Mac ran the drill according to a precise protocol. As the students would learn in their classroom sessions, it was the job of the spotter, the first person to witness someone overboard, to shout the alarm, then throw a life ring and MOB buoy from the bridge to the person in the water. As usual, Mac’s aim was impeccable; the ring and buoy hit the water within an arm’s length of Dave. Mac kept an unwavering eye on Dave, squinting into the light of the sun dazzling off the ripples, and kept his right arm outstretched, pointing continuously at Dave, first from the deck, then up on the rigging as he scuttled, using his left arm and both legs, to the mizzen shrouds. He remained with his gaze and finger fixed on Dave until the officer on watch—today it was Captain Marzynski himself—relieved him.
Anika provided running commentary for the students as the captain checked to see that the life ring and MOB buoy had been thrown in and then threw an activated SART—Search and Rescue Radar Transponder—into the water. He pressed the MOB button on the GPS and sounded the alarm signal—two short, two long, two short blasts, repeated three times. Had the ship been under sail, he would have turned it into the wind to stop; had they been under power, he would have executed a Williamson turn.
Because the captain was the watch officer today, the first mate, Dr. Williams, took command of the ship and carried out the rescue procedure. Anika explained that if a MAYDAY call—an urgency message—was deemed necessary, the first mate would issue it and then stand ready to communicate with the rescue craft on channel 16 of the VHF radio.
The captain assigned duty lookouts to take over observation of the MOB. The rescue-craft launch team, consisting of Mac and the second mate, Henry, and the crew members on deck watch, launched the Zodiac, an inflatable dinghy. Then the rescue-craft team—Henry and Sam and the second engineer—leapt into the Zodiac and made for the man overboard. Dave was floating on his back in lazy circles, luxuriating in the warm water, unconcerned about the drama unfolding onboard.
Dr. Williams and his first aid team stood at the rail with the “grab and go kit,” a stretcher and a blanket, waiting for Dave’s arrival. All other crew members were gathered amidships, ready to assist in any way requested.
Henry and Sam hauled Dave up and over the railing onto the deck into the waiting hands of the first aid team. This was the hardest part of the exercise for Dave; it went against the grain for him to stay as inert as a sack of barley while the others labored over him. He did his best not to be helpful as Dr. Williams demonstrated life-saving techniques. At the end of the exercise, the resuscitated MOB arose from the stretcher to thunderous applause and cheers from the Floaties.
The students were both exhilarated and exhausted after the MOB drill. They’d had no idea it was coming, which was exactly the way Mac had planned it. He firmly believed that the best method of instruction was to catch the kids off guard; the emotion and initial uncertainty of the situation would ensure a vivid memory of the procedures called for.
“It beats a list on a chalkboard any day of the week,” is what he always said.
8
By mid-July, Juan, Phillip, Polo, and Severo had moved into the house in Buenaventura.
With his customary meticulousness, Juan had worked out a strategy that covered all contingencies. He had dispatched the others to Medillin, where they bought, using assumed names, an SUV, a Jimmy, and a moped. All were used but in good enough condition for their purposes. He had prepared a detailed shopping list and they had taken turns over the next six weeks going into town—taking care to go to several different stores to allay any suspicions—to buy provisions for the house and the boat.
On Thursday of the second week they got their first